Landowners usually have a long coat known as _angarkha_ reaching to the
knees, with flaps folding over the breasts and tied with strings. The
_bandi_ is a short coat like this but coming only to the hips, and is
more popular with cultivators. In the cold weather it is frequently
stuffed with cotton and dyed dark green or dark blue so as not to
show the dirt. For visits of ceremony a pair of _paijamas_ are kept,
but otherwise the _dhoti_ or loin-cloth is commonly worn. Wearing
the _dhoti_ pulled half-way up to the thighs is called 'cultivator's
fashion.' A shirt may be worn under the coat; but cultivators usually
have only one garment, nowadays often a sleeveless coat with buttons in
front. The proper head-dress is the _pagri_, a piece of coloured cloth
perhaps 30 feet long and a foot wide, twisted tightly into folds, which
is lifted on and off the head and is only rarely undone. Twisting the
_pagri_ is an art, and a man is usually hired to do it and paid four
annas. The _pagris_ have different shapes in different parts of the
country, and a Hindu can tell by the shape of a man's _pagri_ where he
comes from. But nowadays cultivators usually wear a _dupatta_ or short
piece of cloth tied, loosely round the head. The tenant arranges his
head-cloth with a large projection on one side, and in it he carries
his _chilam_ or pipe-bowl, and also small quantities of vegetables,
salt or condiments purchased at the bazar. In case of necessity
he can transform it into a loin-cloth, or tie up a bundle of grass
with it, or tie his _lota_ to it to draw water from a well. 'What
can the washerman do in a village where the people live naked?' is
a Chhattisgarhi proverb which aptly indicates that scantiness is
the most prominent feature of the local apparel. Here a cloth round
the loins, and this usually of meagre dimensions, constituted, until
recently, the full dress of a cultivator. Those who have progressed
a stage farther throw a cloth loosely over one shoulder, covering
the chest, and assume an apology for a turban by wrapping another
small rag carelessly round the head, leaving the crown generally
bare, as if this part of the person required special sunning and
ventilation. Hindus will not be seen out-of-doors with the head bare,
though the Gonds and other tribes only begin to wear head-cloths when
they are adopting Hinduism. The Gondi fashion was formerly prevalent
in Chhattisgarh. Some sanctity attaches to the turban, probably because
it is the covering of the head. To knock off a man's turban is a great
insult, and if it drops off or he lets it fall, it is a very bad omen.